Friday, December 19, 2008

I found this photo in a box and remember seeing it on Grandma's refrigerator many years ago. The photo was snapped before the folks went off to a Christmas party. We were left as a sleepover, obviously. I saw a ghost that night.

Reader responds: the year must be 1971. michael was born in jan 1970. what wonderful fun times. yes, i remember you telling me about the ghost. grandma told you it was uncle paul, coming up the stairs and not a ghost. still believe it was a ghost?

Turning onto High St. we look over our shoulder and see the Caledonian staring down at us. We see the Trustees of Reservations has an office on the first floor. We've noticed their sign at the Dinosaur Footprints on Rt. 5.

We're getting hungry as we start home. Is that kielbasa and kapusta we smell? Perhaps it is our imagination. Gramps is close by. Let's go!

Off The Shelf: The Finest Hours by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman

From Booklist: In a 1952 nor’easter, the distress of two ships off Cape Cod initiated a dramatic Coast Guard operation recounted here by coauthors Tougias and Sherman. Both vessels were World War II surplus, cheaply built, unwisely kept in service, and broken in two by the storm. All four halves floated, for the moment, and the authors’ narrative accordingly tracks four separate search-and-rescue efforts that form the complete story. The most prominent, in the press at the time and in official honors conferred afterward, concerned one motorized lifeboat, a puny 36 feet long and manned by four men, dispatched to do battle with the maelstrom’s towering waves. This is the seascape of The Perfect Storm, and the authors do justice to the peril in a tight account of the action. Plotting the course of CG36500, the utilitarian name of the lifeboat captained by Bernie Webber (interviewed for this book), Tougias and Sherman reach their peak of tension in the sink-or-swim moments when mariners abandoned ship and chanced their lives on their rescuers’ skill and bravery. An excellent entry in the disaster-at-sea genre. --Gilbert Taylor

A collision of memories, time and space

Our focus is on Western Massachusetts. Our postings are mostly of common images that folks might come across in their everyday journeys. Wall graffiti, lampposts, ticket booths, street scenes, wildlife, forests and discarded objects are regular themes.
We started blogging with a focus on the history of our families and how the places they have lived evolved over time. We are most interested in how the past and present collide and launching the reader into a place where memories of prior experiences and places mingle with their everyday lives.
-- Bob Genest